Method and system for managing account information

Abstract

A method and system for authenticating the identity of a consumer is disclosed. After the consumer is authenticated by a trusted third party, the consumer designates accounts that the consumer wishes to “lock.” When a party requests access to that account, the consumer is notified through the consumer's phone and asked to input a PIN. If the consumer provides the PIN, the requestor is granted access to the consumer's account without requiring further input from the consumer. If the party authorizing the transaction in this “two-factor” authentication does not possess both the phone and the consumer's PIN, or that party elects not to provide the PIN, the request will not be authenticated.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This non-provisional application claims priority based upon prior U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 660,286 filed Mar. 10, 2005 in the name of James Richard Holland, IV, entitled “Identity Firewall,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD [0002] The method and system of the present invention pertains to the management of a consumer's account information, and more specifically to a system and method for automating the registration, management and controlled disclosure of certain electronic personal identification and financial account data. BACKGROUND [0003] By stealing a user's personal identification and financial account information, identity thieves breach trusted security mechanisms that are routinely relied upon by consumers, banks, merchants, healthcare providers, and the government. This identity fraud creates two victims: the consumer and the organization that manages the consumer's accoun...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a method and system for verifying a consumer's identity and granting access to their accounts. It involves a trusted third party confirming the consumer's identity and designating which accounts they can protect. When an account provider needs access to these accounts, they notify the trusted third party and the trusted third party contacts the consumer through their communication device and requests their PIN. The consumer's PIN is the only factor needed for granting access to their account, so if the party accessing the account does not have the consumer's communication device or PIN, the request will not be approved. This method ensures secure access to the consumer's accounts and prevents unauthorized access."

Problems solved by technology

By stealing a user's personal identification and financial account information, identity thieves breach trusted security mechanisms that are routinely relied upon by consumers, banks, merchants, healthcare providers, and the government.

Even the threat of identity theft can create tension between these parties.

For example, the risk of identity theft forces consumers to question whether any communication, be it a letter, an email, a website or a phone call, actually originated from the consumer's financial institution.

Similarly, the threat of identity theft causes the Consumer's financial institution to take added measures to ensure that the party using a credit card or signing checks is actually the owner of the credit card or the checking account.

Single-factor authentication lacks security because it is so easy for a third party to steal or guess the password.

Any purely information-based approach to authentication is vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated identity theft and fraud attacks.

In addition, new guidance from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) impacts how financial institutions handle sensitive transactions.

This approach results in great cost to the organization and an unacceptable burden on the consumer.

Even in cases where the hardened authentication systems utilize a scheme that a financial institution may deem secure at an acceptable cost, those systems don't address the consumer's need for convenience, nor the need to maintain privacy and integrity of the consumer's personal data.

However, the issue of consumer adoption is more complicated.

Consumers may be willing or able to carry a device to record and track identifying information and / or account information required by one financial institution, but are typically unwilling to carry multiple devices, one for each of the financial institutions, banks, merchants, healthcare providers, and governmental entities with whom they transact business.

Such a multi-factor, multi-band system would present a significant technical obstacle for the fraudster to overcome.

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